Google has decided to keep third-party cookies in its web browser after several years of promising to remove them.
In an announcement on its blog, the internet company said it would no longer “invalidate third-party cookies”.
Instead, Google promised to introduce a new feature of its web browser that “allows people to make an informed choice that applies to their entire web browsing.”
There is currently no clear timeline for when these changes will occur.
Everyone has visited a website with a banner asking you to accept cookies, but what does it all mean?
What are cookies?
In the context of the Internet, cookies are small text files stored in your Internet browser (examples other than Chrome include Firefox and Safari) or device when you go to a website.
They are used to identify your browser and/or device and to track certain aspects of your online behavior.
The idea is that they help a website gather information about you to make the website more useful to you – and this often includes showing you targeted ads.
The personal data that a cookie may contain may be:
- The name of the website
- Browsing habits and history
- Personal preferences and history
- Your IP address
- Phone number and address
- Links clicked
- Shopping cart items
There are several different types of Cookies on the Internet, but what Google was looking to remove were third-party cookies.
What do third party cookies do?
Third-party cookies are primarily used to track a user’s activity across websites and use that information for personalized advertising by third parties.
Google uses third-party cookies for advertising, including serving and displaying ads and personalizing them.
Depending on your settings, other Google-related services such as YouTube may also use these cookies for advertising.
This means things like the most relevant results and recommendations, a personalized YouTube home page and ads tailored to your interests will appear as you browse.
International websites require you to “accept cookies” due to a data privacy protection law that was passed in 2018.
The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires all multinational companies to offer a choice where non-compliance can result in fines.
Australia does not require consent for cookies.
Why would Google remove third-party cookies?
Due to increasing public criticism over privacy concerns.
Google responded by promising to “chart a course toward a more privacy-first web.”
The initial plan was revealed in 2020 and was set to phase out the use of third-party files by the end of 2022.
In a blog post in 2021, Google’s director of product management, privacy and ad trust said the decision was due to user mistrust:
“As our industry has strived to deliver relevant advertising to consumers across the web, it has created a proliferation of individual user data across thousands of companies, typically collected through third-party cookies,” he said.
She began working on an initiative she called Privacy Sandbox, which promised to build innovations to protect user privacy while still “delivering results for advertisers and publishers.”
At the time, Google said it would phase out third-party cookies by 2023
But he postponed the deadline three times.
The latest delay pushed the deadline to 2025 before finally abandoning that plan this week.
Is it safe to accept third-party cookies?
It depends on the website.
When making a decision about whether to accept third-party cookies, Internet security company Norton says to think about who is accessing the data and what they can do with it.
It warns that if you accept third-party cookies on a website, it may sell your data to third parties and you cannot choose or know who has it.
It advises against accepting cookies on unencrypted websites or if the site has been flagged as suspicious by your antivirus program.
However, some website owners may not allow you to use their site if you do not accept cookies.